J. Harold Murray

From Wikipedia

J. Harold Murray (February 17, 1891 - December 11, 1940) was an American baritone. For more than a decade, during the Roaring Twenties and the Depression Thirties, he contributed to the development of musical theatre by bridging vaudeville, operetta and the modern American musical.

Born Harry Rulten on February 17, 1891 in South Berwick, Maine, "Hal" Murray served in the Merchant Marine during World War I. After the war and a short apprenticeship in vaudeville, he made his debut on the musical theatre stage as J. Harold Murray in out-of-town productions of Arthur Hammerstein's Always You and Frank Tinney's Sometime, both in 1920.